EASy ON-LiNE
HElp FOR TEXTPRO
by
Bob ScholAR, AC AdVERTiSiNG EdiTOR
AATPQIK.REF
On ACs February 1994 Software Disk you'll find a file called AATPQIK.REF. This was originally a file designed to be a single-page "quick-reference" printout summary of all the commands for TextPro (TP). I found myself using it most of the time as an onscreen "help menu" reminder and modified it for that purpose.
The sidebar in this article incorporates this version with minor adjustments for printing a copy with AtariWriter+ (AT+). I used AT+ to create the TP help menu because AT+ works especially well for setting up tabs and sidebars. AT+ gives you a text window (5 to 249 columns) you can scroll across your screen as necessary to display 40 columns of text at a time. (The only other wordprocessor I know of that does this is Paperclip. TP lets you adjust the columns, but if it can have more than a 40-column screen width I haven't figured out how to make it do that.) Items displayed on your screen in inverse video (highlighted) appear underlined in hardcopy (as seen in the sample Help File listing on this page). I also added a space between the columns of commands in the printed table to make it easier to read.
Using The TP Help File
Explaining how to call up and use this Help File sounds more complicated than it really is. TP has a main menu which is accessed from the TP text editor by pressing CTRL-M. The main menu presents a directory listing and a selection of DOS and other functions. Alphabetically, the AATPQIK.REF help file should appear at the top of the directory list with the bar cursor resting on it. If you then press V (for View), the contents of the Help File will scroll onto the screen. That's all there is to it! You do have to make certain that TP is configured for alphabetical directory sort (the default), and that the AATPQIK.REF file isn't write-locked (or it will be placed near the end of the list).
The items in the Help Menu reference table have been drastically abbreviated. The intent is to provide a quick reminder or reference, not a tutorial. TextPro users can decipher them easily or will know where to hunt them up in the TP documentation for a more thorough description of the commands.
AATPQIK.REF= TP Editing Command Help/Ref. ^=CTRL &=Shift $=SEL %=toggle ,=or ----------------------------------------- |
||
| ^H Crsr Top |
^E Crse End |
^ Arrow Move |
| ^Q <-of Line |
^Z ->of Line |
^[ Sent. Left |
| ^] Sent. Rt |
&+ Word Left |
&* Word Right |
| &- Para Up |
&= Para Down |
^A Case % +Sp |
| ^I Insrt%Rpl |
^L Load File |
$^L Ld Conf F |
| ^H Fst Rpt % |
$^N Ky Clk % |
^O False Sp % |
| $^O Rtns % |
^P Print |
$^D App 2 Buf |
| ^K Clr Bufr |
^Caps Comd % |
$<,^< Erase T |
| ^D Del->SWPF |
^R Rstor Txt |
^U Memry;Crsr |
| $^U Del Up |
$^V Del Down |
^W Cursr Posn |
| ^M Menu |
^Y Wrd Wrp % |
^? Word count |
| $^ -,= Color |
$^? Txt Lum |
$^Z Screen On |
| $^X Scrn Off |
$^C Sel Chg$ |
$^F Sel Find$ |
| ^C Change $ |
^F Find $ |
^G Globl Repl |
| ^X exit->DOS |
$^S Sv Cnf F |
$^T Scrn Fnts |
| ^Tab +5 Spcs |
&> +255 Spcs |
&Del Del Spcs |
| ^J DFLT Parm |
^T Macro % |
$^B use Banked |
| $[ ] Inverse |
FUJI Txt%ATA |
^B Sw Ext Bnk |
| &Tab set TAB |
^; CR,LF,ESC |
^V Ld MACRO F |
| ^S,$^Q Save File(+ Spc,$P=
same Filename) ^L + *.*.D [Return} = List Directory |
||
By the way, TextPro version 5.0 is now complete, and the docs are being updated. The improvements in version 5's macro functions are better than what version 4.56 offered. However, the new version is otherwise pretty much compatible with the older one.
[Editor's Note. TP v5.0 is Shareware and will appear on AC's February Software Disk. Regrettably, the TP does take up almost two whole disk sides, so we are unable to offer the docs. See Steve Hoffee's February Disk Index article elsewhere in this issue for info on obtaining a full copy of TextPro with complete documentation. -BP]
